Author: Musaazi Namiti. PHOTO/COURTESY
Last week, local news outlets, including this newspaper, reported that Speaker Anita Among is planning to meet with the Pope to seek salvation after the UK and the US slapped sanctions on her for alleged corruption.
The planned trip is very surprising given the fact that since she started grabbing headlines over corruption allegations, Ms Among has maintained she is innocent — a clean politician paying the price for presiding over a legislative assembly that enacted a law against homosexuality.
This past March, when Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo stood on the floor of Parliament and said “I was amazed that in your communication, you did not make a mention of the grave allegations against the institution of Parliament…”, referring to the Speaker and alleged corruption, Ms Among’s response was dismissive.
“Honourable Members,” Ms Among said, “I will never, and I’m saying never, give you an answer on hearsay, on rumourmongering. And we are not going to run this House on rumourmongering.”
From these words, anyone can safely conclude there is absolutely nothing for Ms Among to lose sleep over. She can be denied a US or a UK visa over the anti-homosexuality law, but she cannot be sanctioned. That would be probably illegal and can possibly be legally challenged.
Having said that, the statement the US issued announcing sanctions on Ms Among, former Cabinet ministers Maria Gorreti and Agnes Nandutu and Lt Gen Peter Elwelu clearly mentioned her “involvement in significant corruption tied to her leadership of Uganda’s Parliament”.
The choice of the words “significant corruption” means a lot. If, for example, you are a prosecutor seeking a conviction, you would be on strong ground. It is worth mentioning that the statement came from well-educated, native English speakers working for the US Department of State, no less.
They use their words advisedly because the Department engages in high-stakes communication involving political leaders and nations across the world. Careless or wrong use of words, especially words that imply wrongdoing and can damage people’s reputations, can cause serious problems.
Consequently, it goes without saying that the statement was based on clear evidence the US government had gathered.
And that raises questions about what the Pope can really do for Ms Among. It also raises questions about Ms Among herself and her claims of innocence.
If the US has irrefutable evidence linking Ms Among to serious corruption, how can the Pope convince the US Department of State and the UK government to lift sanctions on her? How can Pope Francis pull Ms Among out of her sanctions pit?
Ms Among has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and has dismissed all allegations against her as hearsay, but if she is correct, why is she seeking salvation? What kind of hearsay forces you to travel thousands of miles to meet with the Pope for help? Are Ugandans able to turn hearsay into evidence of corruption?
Will Ms Among use her own money for the trip? If it is taxpayers to pay for her accommodation and her plane ticket — and it has to be a business or first-class ticket — then it is a raw deal for them. Raw deal because Ms Among says the anti-homosexuality law caused her sanctions, but she seems to be seeking salvation over problems she has created herself and with which the people of Uganda have nothing to do.
No one knows how things will pan out. But one thing is clear: If you have done nothing wrong and you have nothing to hide, you are never going to panic, to seek salvation.
Mr Musaazi Namiti is a journalist and former
Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
[email protected] @kazbuk
